CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
"A driver who fatally injured two women had broken the speed limit at least 80 times in the weeks before the accident."BBC News
His insurance company provided him with a car despite having been banned for driving 3 times (by age 36). It was fitted with a tracker, so they could tell he was speeding at more than treble the limit in a village. Did they do anything to even try to stop him before he killed these people as they tried to cross the road?
Don't they refer to "Habitual speeding", a rather common crime amongst motorists according to themselves, speed cameras etc
Surely the insurance company should be prosecuted for negligence. All very well fitting a tracker, but only if you are going to monitor it.
Insurance company have no obligation to report. Plus the system is doubtless not subject to forensic calibration, don't the trains from it could be used in court. They could take the insurance away, likely wouldn't stop him speeding or driving. Maybe we need a French style Code which puts more of an onus on citizens to report/help.
Perhaps, WC, but when the majority view speeding as a 'victimless crime' and a socially acceptable behaviour to boot, I have reservations about this approach working.
I was very disappointed at the reaction of my in-laws when it transpired the son who works for a WRC team was caught speeding twice in one night in Australia resulting in approx $500 of fines. Both times at 130%(-ish) of the speed limit for the road. They thought it was hilarious he got caught.
This is the attitude to be faced.
80 times? The courts won't like that.
This guy will get lots of community service, I reckon.
I'm not sure the insurance company does real time monitoring. I suspect they just download the data at renewal time.
Three times the limit?! There's not caring and then there's driving through a village at (presumably) 90mph. That's just a whole new level of gentlemanly* behaviour.
One does not 'carelessly' get to ninety.
*Saw Chvrches last night at Barrowlands and lead singer revealed her surprise that people in other parts of the world get offended at her prolific swearing, so she's taken to replacing the c-word with 'gentleman'. For when people are being right, uh, gentlemen.
Oh I agree meepmeep, but I'm not sure it's the insurance company we need to put the onus on (and my comment was only really focusing on why the insurance company here won't have reported (plus stiltskin is likely correct). Fact of the matter is someone with so many speeding convictions probably shouldn't have been driving in the first place, and it's not the insurance company that decides that.
Folks, have you read the article?
"Clunie, a mechanic, admitted causing the death of mother-of-three Ms MacDonald, 37, and Ms Hucknall, 18, by careless driving on 27 November 2012 after driving at excessive speed in Dunnikier Way, Fife.
He also admitted driving dangerously on various occasions between 25 October and 27 November in 2012 by driving at grossly excessive speed at various locations in Fife including Kirkcaldy, East Wemyss at the A92 at Cowdenbeath and Cardenden and on the M8 in North Lanarkshire.
Judge Lord Turnbull told him: "It is plain I have been given a description of utterly shocking conduct."
The court heard that he had been banned from the road on three previous occasions and had his licence endorsed for speeding and using a hand held mobile phone while driving."
So he's admitted all the charges, he's not contesting any. He has previous bans from driving.
Finally:
"Defence counsel Brian McConnachie QC described a custodial sentence as "inevitable".
Lord Turnbull rejected a move to continue Clunie's bail ahead of sentencing.
He adjourned the case until 1 December at the High Court in Glasgow for the preparation of a background report."
So the guy is in prison on remand for a month until he's sentenced, presumably to a spell inside at HM pleasure.
Sentencing guidelines are here:
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/web_causing_death_by_driving_definitive_guideline.pdf
Reckon the driver will be doing between 18 months to 3 years in prison.
Apparently (and I can't remember who told me this) the tracker wasn't to see what speed he was doing but just to keep track of the car - it was a courtesy car. It is getting more common for hire cars to have them, apparently. So it wasn't that they were trying to record his driving, just that after the crash they were able to provide the police with evidence.
"driver who killed two women on a pedestrian crossing in Fife has been jailed for almost five years and banned from driving for a decade." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30249350
"driving at 72mph in a 20mph limit; almost 90mph on a stretch of road with a 40mph limit, and frequently driving in excess of 100mph on stretches of road limited to 60mph or 70mph. "
"He jailed Clunie for three years and two months for causing death by careless driving and added a further 21 months for the dangerous driving offence."
I read the article today and just find the whole thing sad.
Clearly this is a member of society that does not care about his actions and how they may affect other people.
The law simply did not do enough in the first place, the second or the third.
I can't remember whose Dad said this in reference to the passing of a driving test and the handover of keys(or even if was a CCEer like I think is was), but it rings so much more true today: Son, this is the most dangerous weapon you will ever own.
It's not true because we're not the USA and you can't buy assault rifles at ASDA, and it's not even true because of the physics of cars at speed.
It's true because the legal system of this country grants you an immunity from responsibility that enables murderously sociopathic behaviour, as long as you have managed to not f*** up for 45 minutes during one of your tests.
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